1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk apparatus which selects a desired disk from a disk magazine accommodating therein a plurality of disks for playback and/or recording. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk apparatus which performs disk selecting and playback and/or recording with a disk magazine divided into upper and lower sections, thereby allowing components thereof to be arranged adjacent to each other so as to allow a reduction in size of the overall apparatus, and to a disk magazine used therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, disk apparatuses, such as CD players and MD players, using disks as a medium, have become very popular. In particular, an auto-changer-type disk apparatus has been developed wherein a desired disk is selected from a disk magazine accommodating therein a plurality of disks for playback. The auto-changer-type disk apparatus is particularly convenient as a disk apparatus for use in a vehicle because there is no need to load and unload disks one by one each time the disks to be played are exchanged.
In the disk apparatus of the type described above using a disk magazine, a disk playback section is arranged adjacent to a magazine accommodation section. In a large number of such disk apparatuses, a desired disk in a magazine is pulled out and transported by a transporting mechanism to the disk playback section to be set thereat, and then a disk playback is performed. With this arrangement, however, a certain distance must be provided between the disk playback section and the magazine accommodation section in order to conserve space for setting the disk to the disk playback section for playback. Accordingly, the overall disk apparatus must be of increased size, and the disk apparatus is disadvantageous as an in-vehicle apparatus in which a mounting space is restricted.
For example, in a recent in-vehicle audio apparatus, the size of the opening for accommodating the equipment in vehicles has been standardized to 180 mm by 50 mm, called a xe2x80x9cDIN sizexe2x80x9d, or 180 mm by 100 mm, called a xe2x80x9cdouble-DIN sizexe2x80x9d. In addition, the depth of the opening is only about 160 mm at present, so that audio device-mounting space in a vehicle is restricted.
Since compact disks are 120 mm in diameter, 240 mm (=120 mmxc3x972) in the longest width direction is required for the above disk apparatus. Accordingly, the device cannot be accommodated in the opening located beside the driver""s seat.
In view of the foregoing circumstances, a conventional CD auto-changer is accommodated in the trunk of a vehicle, or near the foot of the driver""s seat. In the former case, however, the trunk space is reduced, the trunk must be opened each time disks are exchanging, and a long line connecting the trunk and an operating section is required. In the latter case, there is a risk that foot space will be reduced, resulting in breakage of the auto-changer when accidentally impacted by the driver""s foot.
In order to cope with the above problems, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-203519 discloses a disk apparatus in which a disk magazine is divided into upper and lower sections, and disk playback is performed with a disk playback section transferred therebetween. In such a disk apparatus, a disk accommodation position overlaps a disk playback position, so that a horizontal dimension can be reduced.
The disk magazine is usually divided by a magazine holder provided on a chassis unit to be movable in the vertical direction. That is, the arrangement is such that a pin fixed to the magazine holder is inserted into a step-wise cam formed on a cam plate, and the cam plate is slidably moved back and forth, thereby moving the magazine holder upward together with the pin moving within the step-wise cam. Then, an upper disk magazine is held by the magazine holder, and the magazine holder is moved upward, whereby the upper disk magazine is lifted together with an internal tray to be divided from a lower disk magazine.
The disk apparatus using the above divided disk magazine has the following drawbacks which must be overcome. When the divided upper and lower disk magazines are reunited, the shift of the disk magazines makes the reuniting impossible and causes operation failure. This problem may be overcome by employing a solid holding mechanism, or by increasing positioning accuracy. However, a complicated mechanism and expensive components are required, so that the size cannot be decreased or the cost is disadvantageously increased.
In order to smoothly move the magazine holder up and down by the cam plate as described above, it is necessary to provide two cam plates at opposite positions, such as left and right or front and back, of the magazine holder. However, when the disk playback section is transferred into a space between the divided disk magazines, it is necessary to allow a transferring disk playback section to stand by at either left or right position of the magazine holder. Thus, in a compact disk apparatus such as within the DIN size, it is difficult for the cam plate provided on the standby side of the disk playback section to ensure a longitudinal stroke. In addition, since the front of the magazine holder must be opened as a magazine insertion opening, it is impractical to provide the cam plates in front and back of the magazine holder.
In the in-vehicle disk apparatus, a vibration-proof mechanism using a damper, etc., is provided on the disk playback section in order to reduce effects of external vibrations. The disk playback section is, however, definitely provided with an optical pickup that moves in a radial direction of the disk. For this reason, the damper must be provided outside the movement range of the optical pickup so as not to disturb the movement of the optical pickup. Accordingly, an additional area for the damper is required for the disk playback section, so that overall size of the disk apparatus is increased.
The disk playback section is usually provided on a swing unit that rotates about a rotation shaft. Thus, when the swing unit is transferred into a space between the vertically divided disk magazines, the disk playback section is supported only by a rotation support of the swing unit, and is easily affected by vibrations. Accordingly, the disk apparatus is disadvantageous as the in-vehicle disk apparatus.
When a disk signal surface is directly touched by hands, fingerprints are left thereon, resulting in poor playback. Thus, extreme care must be taken in moving the disk into and out of the disk magazine. The disk magazine has a structure such that the disk is moved into and out of a space formed between trays that partition the inside of the disk magazine into multiple stages. Accordingly, when the disk is inserted into the disk magazine, the disk is grasped at its outer periphery, inserted into the disk magazine, and then pressed at its rear end, whereby the disk can be easily inserted without being touched by hands at the signal-encoding surface thereof. When taking the disk out of the disk magazine, however, it is necessary to eject the disk, and to pick up the disk while the disk partly protrudes from the disk magazine. Thus, fingerprints might be left on the signal-encoding surface.
This might be avoided by a configuration such that the outside shape of the disk magazine is reduced and the disk is exposed to some extent in advance. By this configuration, the amount of protrusion of the disk when it is removed from the disk magazine can be increased, and the disk can be easily taken out of the disk magazine without being touched by hands at its signal-encoding surface. In this case, however, the exposed part of the disk might be scratched when the disk magazine is inserted into and ejected from the disk apparatus or when transporting the disk magazine.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disk apparatus which can realize an advantageous operation by preventing a shift caused in dividing a disk magazine into upper and lower sections or in uniting the divided sections of the disk magazine with a simple mechanism.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact disk apparatus which can provide a transfer structure of a disk playback section and a lift structure of a magazine holder in a narrow space.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact disk apparatus which can save space for dampers without damaging the vibration-reducing capability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disk apparatus which can more firmly hold a swing unit provided with a disk playback section, and which is resistant to vibrations during playing back of the disk.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disk magazine which can prevent contamination of a signal-encoding surface when loading and unloading a disk, and prevent damage to the disk when being inserted into and ejected from a disk apparatus.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk apparatus including a disk magazine having a plurality of trays, each tray having mounted therein a disk, the disk magazine divided into upper and lower sections, a chassis unit for mounting therein the disk magazine, a magazine dividing section for dividing and uniting the disk magazine mounted in the chassis unit, a disk selecting section for selecting a desired disk, a swing unit transferred into a space between the divided upper and lower sections of the disk magazine, and a disk playback section provided on the swing unit for playing back the disk selected by the disk selecting section, wherein a vertical guide hole is formed in at least one of the upper section and the lower section of the disk magazine, and wherein the chassis unit is provided with a vertical guide shaft inserted into the guide hole when dividing and uniting the disk magazine.
In accordance with the described arrangements, the upper section or the lower section of the disk magazine is moved in a vertical direction when dividing the disk magazine by the magazine dividing section. At this time, the guide shaft is inserted into the guide hole formed in at least one of the upper section and the lower section of the disk magazine. When the divided magazine upper section and the magazine lower section are united, the movement of the magazine upper section or the magazine lower section is guided by the guide shaft, so that the positional deviation of the magazine upper section and the magazine lower section is prevented and operation failure is not caused.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk apparatus including a disk magazine having a plurality of trays, each tray having mounted therein a disk, the disk magazine divided into upper and lower sections, a chassis unit for mounting therein the disk magazine, a magazine dividing section for dividing and uniting the disk magazine mounted in the chassis unit, a disk selecting section for selecting a desired disk, a swing unit transferred into a space between the divided upper and lower sections of the disk magazine, and a disk playback section provided on the swing unit for playing back the disk selected by the disk selecting section, wherein the disk dividing section includes a magazine holder provided on the chassis unit to be engaged with at least one of the upper section and the lower section of the disk magazine, a cylindrical cam rotatably provided on the chassis unit, and a drive source for rotating the cylindrical cam, the chassis unit lifted thereby, wherein a holder guide pin is formed on one end of said magazine holder, wherein a helical cam is formed on the outer surface of the cylindrical cam, and wherein the holder guide pin is inserted into the helical cam.
In accordance with the described arrangements, the magazine holder is moved upward and downward by the cylindrical cam that is relatively small in its depth and width dimensions, thereby allowing the members to be arranged with a space efficiency, and the overall apparatus is easily reduced in size.
In the disk apparatus in accordance with the present invention, the magazine driving section may further include a magazine shift plate provided on the chassis unit so as to slide back and forth, and a transmission mechanism for transmitting a driving force of the drive source to the magazine shift plate. In addition, the cylindrical cam and the magazine shift plate may preferably be provided on a transfer side of the disk playback section and on the opposite side thereof sandwiching the magazine holder therebetween. In addition, holder guide pins may preferably be provided on the side of the cylindrical cam and on the side of the magazine shift plate of the magazine holder. The magazine shift plate may preferably be provided with an inclined cam. In addition, one of the holder guide pins may be inserted into the helical cam of the cylindrical cam, and the other holder guide pin may be inserted into the inclined cam of the magazine shift plate.
In accordance with the described arrangements, the depth stroke is reduced on the transfer side of the disk playback section. However, since a long depth stroke is not required for the cylindrical cam, the magazine holder is smoothly lifted. In addition, since the depth stroke is easily conserved on the opposite side of the transfer side of the disk playback section, the width of the apparatus can be reduced by using the magazine shift plate that requires the depth stroke and is small in its width dimension. Accordingly, a transfer structure of the disk playback section and a lift structure of the magazine holder can be realized in a narrow space, thereby allowing a reduction in size of the overall apparatus.
In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk apparatus including a disk magazine having a plurality of trays, each tray having mounted therein a disk, the disk magazine divided into upper and lower sections, a chassis unit for mounting therein the disk magazine, a magazine dividing section for dividing and uniting the disk magazine mounted in the chassis unit, a disk selecting section for selecting a desired disk, a swing unit transferred into a space between the divided upper and lower sections of the disk magazine, and a disk playback section provided on the swing unit for playing back the disk selected by the disk selecting section, wherein the disk playback section is supported on the swing unit by a plurality of dampers, and wherein at least one of the dampers is a movable damper provided so as to move between an accommodation position within a movable range of the disk playback section and a retracted position beyond the movable range of the disk playback section.
In accordance with the described arrangements, the movable damper is located at the accommodation position at the time of standby of the swing unit, and the movable damper is removed from the movable range of the disk playback section to perform disk playback operation, whereby space required for the dampers can be saved without damaging the vibration-reducing capability of the dampers.
The disk apparatus in accordance with the present invention may further include a floating lock mechanism for providing a floating locked state in which deviation of the disk playback section is restricted before the swing unit is transferred, and for providing a floating locked state in which the disk playback section is supported by only the dampers after the swing unit has been transferred, and a gear mechanism for synchronizing the floating lock mechanism and the movable damper so that the movable damper is located on the accommodation position when the disk playback section is in the former floating locked state, and the movable damper is located at the retracted position when the disk playback section is in the latter floating locked state.
In accordance with the described arrangements, the movable damper can be moved in synchronism with the floating lock mechanism, so that the movable damper can be moved to the retracted position only when damper support is required.
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk apparatus including a disk magazine having a plurality of trays, each tray having mounted therein a disk, the disk magazine divided into upper and lower sections, a chassis unit for mounting therein the disk magazine, a magazine dividing section for dividing and uniting the disk magazine mounted in the chassis unit, a disk selecting section for selecting a desired disk, a swing unit transferred into a space between the divided upper and lower sections of the disk magazine, and a disk playback section provided on the swing unit for playing back the disk selected by the disk selecting section, wherein the chassis unit is provided with a holding section for holding the terminal end of the transferred swing unit.
In accordance with the described arrangements, the terminal end of the swing unit is supported by the holding section during the disk playback. Thus, the swing chassis is supported by a rotation support and the holding section, and is hardly affected by vibrations.
The disk apparatus in accordance with the present invention may further include a hold arm for holding an end of the swing unit opposite to the terminal end held by the holding section when the swing unit is transferred.
In accordance with the described arrangement, the terminal end of the swing unit is held by the holding section, and the opposite end thereof is held by the hold arm during the disk playback. Thus, the swing unit is supported by the rotation support, the holding section, and the hold arm, and is more hardly affected by vibrations.
The disk apparatus in accordance with the present invention may further include a hold plate for pressing the hold arm in the direction to hold the swing unit when the swing unit is transferred.
In accordance with the described arrangement, the swing unit is supported by the rotation support, the holding section, and the hold arm, and the hold plate presses the hold arm during the disk playback. Thus, the swing unit is held more firmly.
In accordance with a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk magazine including a casing having an upper plate, a lower plate and a side plate, and a plurality of trays provided in the casing on multiple stages, the disk magazine capable of accommodating a disk between the trays from a side surface of an opening of the casing, wherein at least one of said upper plate and said lower plate has a cutout formed on the side surface of an opening thereof.
In accordance with the described arrangements, since the disk accommodated in the disk magazine is substantially covered with the magazine upper section and the magazine lower section, the disk may not be damaged when the disk magazine is inserted into and ejected from the disk apparatus. In addition, when the disk is partly ejected in order to take out the disk, a part of the outer periphery of the disk is exposed from the cutout. Accordingly, the disk can easily be taken out of the disk magazine by being grasped at its exposed end portion without being touched by hands at the signal-encoding surface thereof.
In the disk magazine in accordance with the present invention, a disk ejection lever may preferably be provided on the opposite side of the side surface of the opening. In addition, one end of the disk ejection lever may abut against an edge of the disk so as to press the disk. Furthermore, the other end of the disk ejection lever may preferably be exposed so as to be rotationally operated from the outside.
In accordance with the described arrangements, the disk can easily be ejected by rotationally operating the disk ejection lever from the outside, and the disk can easily be pulled out by being grasped at its exposed end portion.